Farenthold, Polis Refile You Own Devices Act

Reps. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, and Jared Polis, D-Colo., reintroduced their You Own Devices Act (YODA) Tuesday. HR-905, previously bowed during the 113th and 114th Congresses, would amend Copyright Act Section 109 to allow consumers to resell or lease their software (see 1502110039). “YODA simply states that your device belongs to you,” Farenthold said in a news release. “If you wish to sell that device, the software that enables it to work is transferred along with it, and that any right you have to security and bug fixing of that software is transferred as well.” The bill “will cut red tape and allow people to sell or give away devices without being strangled by paperwork and empty legal threats,” Polis said.